Numbers can be represented in a variety of formats. For example, a fixed point number can be expressed in scientific notation in the format mbe, where m represents a mantissa, b represents a base, and e represents an exponent. The mantissa portion of the number relates to precision of the number (e.g., the number of decimal places included in the number), and the exponent portion of the number relates to the range of the number (e.g., a power of ten). For example, the number 5,280 can be represented in scientific notation for base 10 as 5.280×103, where 5.280 is the mantissa (having four digits of precision) and 3 is the exponent.
Although fixed point counters are sometimes implemented in hardware, in instances where a very large number of count values are needed fixed point counters become somewhat unwieldy in that they require a large amount of data storage to keep track the large number of count values. Consequently, floating point counters have been developed. Floating point numbers automatically adjust their level of precision as a function of the size of the number.
As will be appreciated in more detail herein, the inventors have developed improved methods and devices related to floating point counters which are advantageous in a variety of contexts.